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China became Germany’s most important trading partner as imports and exports rose to €170 billion (GETTY)

CHINA for the first time became Germany’s most important trading partner in 2016, overtaking the US and France.

German imports from and exports to China rose to €170 billion (£143billion) last year, Federal Statistics Office figures reviewed by Reuters showed.

The development is good news for the German government, which has made it a goal to safeguard global free trade after US President Donald Trump threatened to impose tariffs on imports and his top adviser on trade accused Germany of exploiting a weak euro to boost exports. Continue reading →

BERLIN (Own report) – The elaboration of the German Ministry of Defense’s new White Paper is oriented on Cold War era scenarios. In her programmatic speech on this basic military policy document, Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen (CDU) accused Russia of following a “geostrategic hegemonic policy” and of using “military force” to “achieve its interests.” Members of the panel of experts appointed by the minister, therefore, call Russia a “threat” and demand a revival of the “deterrence” policy applied against the Soviet Union by the West. The authors of the first White Paper in 1969 had already used these terms to legitimize “limited” nuclear war against the USSR, allegedly oriented toward expansion. The subsequent military policy doctrine of the mid 1980s, even included nuclear first use to “combat the enemy’s potentials” on its own territory, because, in the event of war, Soviet territory would “not be inviolable.”